Detroit Free Press Columnist

Calvin Johnson is the best wide receiver on the planet. When he’s healthy.

But there are two more athletes who deserve to be mentioned in the same breath because they have reached a similar level of greatness.

Meryl Davis and Charlie White, who attend Michigan and train in Canton, have become the best ice-dance team on the planet.

On Saturday night they came home to Detroit and performed in front of a pack of friends and family in Joe Louis Arena, winning Skate America with 188.23 points, almost 20 points ahead of second-place Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte of Italy (168.49 points).

Davis and White could have fallen, or stopped for pizza, and still won with ease.

Favored to win a gold medal at the upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Davis and White are as skilled, gifted and intelligent as Cabrera.

And they are as freakish as Johnson, thanks to an unusual blend of strength, speed, technique, creativity and artistry.

Best of all?

Davis and White make it look so easy, so effortless.

“What they are doing is so difficult,” said Scott Hamilton, the former Olympic champion. “It’s so hard to master, just their quality of edge and the difficulty of their choreography.”

But there are other traits shared among the greats of Detroit.

It is clear that Cabrera loves baseball by the way he jokes around with his teammates or plays in pain.

And that same joy and passion can be seen in Davis and White when they skate. “You start to understand who they are as people, and you care about them,” Hamilton said.

Finally, there is one more badge of honor needed to get into this exclusive club.

You need to own an amazing accomplishment. Something that makes your jaw drop.

And Davis and White have become the most accomplished ice dance team in U.S. history after winning a pair of world championships (2011 and 2013) and five-straight U.S. Championships. They own an Olympic silver medal.

“No one has had their success,” Hamilton said. “Tanith (Belbin) and Ben (Agosto) were phenomenal. They took ice dancing in the U.S. to another level. Charlie and Meryl have won worlds. They are favored to win the Olympics. Tanith and Ben opened the door; Charlie and Meryl kicked it in.”

And they kicked it in again Saturday night.

They were brilliant, as always. At one point, White skated across the ice, while holding Davis upside down with one arm.

And he did it effortlessly.

But that comes from countless hours of training.

One of their lifts took two years to develop.

Maia Shibutani and her brother Alex finished in third with 154.47 points. The Shibutanis train at the Arctic Edge in Canton with Davis and White.

“Meryl and Charlie are a great team,” Alex Shibutani said. “I’ll let you in on a secret. They aren’t perfect all the time. The biggest thing we have learned from them? Learning how to recover from anything.”

Now, there is a byproduct of greatness.

It can lift up everybody else.

Which brings us to Madison Hubbell and Zach Donohue, who train in Bloomfield Hills and finished in fourth with 152.98 points. They are inspired by Davis and White. Trying to kick their butts.